Applying to top Public Policy/ Public Admin programs, retake my GREs?

[ss312]

Hi guys,

I gave my GRE's two weeks ago and scored a 162/170 Quant and a 164/170 Verbal bringing my cumulative to 326. This is a decent score, but I was really aiming for a 330+ as I am applying to Public Policy programs at Harvard/Princeton/Columbia. J

I just found out my writing score was just 4.5. Even though this is crunch time with applications due just a month away, I am seriously considering retaking my GRE's to try and cross the 330 barrier and get a 5+ on my writing score. Only problem is, I would be doing that on top of a very busy job and finding time to write all of my applications.

What do you think I should do?

Thanks!

 

[Gvh]

You're fine, don't retake the GREs. Since GREs are mostly used as a cut-off, I doubt raising your excellent score an extra 4 points is going to make any difference whatsoever to your chances of admission. 

[RCtheSS]

Agreed with Gvh--your scores are very competitive as is. Do not stress yourself over them further!

[quantresearcher]

Hi People,

I am interested in applying for MPP/MPH programs. I am currently scoring 150V/161Q in the practice GRE tests, which is not that good. I have 6+ years of experience in social research and have been engaged in at least 20 evaluation studies in India. I am referring to the US News Grad school report for shortlisting the universities. I wanted to know if the information is reliable and what should be band of universities that I should target. I am writing GRE on Nov 23 so I might miss applying to universities whose deadline is Dec 1. Thanks in advance.

[ss312]

^You can probably still apply to the places where the deadline is Dec 1 as GRE scores are sent in roughly ten days after you give the test and they don't start reviewing your applications immediately. I would still confirm by shooting their admissions office an email. 

Gvh and RCtheSS: Thanks for your responses! I'll rethink taking the GRE's again (though I still feel that the 4.5 is quite low). 

 

Edited October 23, 2015 by ss312

[RCtheSS]

Gvh and RCtheSS: Thanks for your responses! I'll rethink taking the GRE's again (though I still feel that the 4.5 is quite low). 

I also scored a 4.5, which was in the 80th percentile at the time I took the exam last year. From what I've gathered as I've researched these programs, 4 seems like a general cut-off AW score so we should be in good shape! Plus, we also have the admissions essays to showcase our writing ability. 

Edited October 23, 2015 by RCtheSS